A Few Bits I’d Like To See In Netflix’s “Luke Cage” Series

If you don’t already know, or had your attention surreptitiously hijacked by all manner of other geeky news (seems like the news cycle within fandom never tires), then here’s your friendly reminder: drop everything you’re doing today and binge. Binge, you will. Binge, you must. *waves hand Jedi-like* Great! Now that we’re on the same page, here are a few tidbits I’m hoping to see over the course of Netflix’s 13-episode run…

Cross-pollination of Players

Now that Marvel’s Netflix universe has introduced the masses to Matt Murdock, Elektra Natchios, Frank Castle, Wilson Fisk, Claire Temple, Stick, Jessica Jones, and Danny Rand (although, this was merely via a sweet teaser-trailer for their upcoming Iron Fist series), I’m hoping we’ll see a little more consonance between the different shows. We’ve already been treated to a cameo by Rosario Dawson’s Claire in Jessica Jones, so now that we have a third show in the mix (fourth overall debut if we’re counting Daredevil’s second season), Marvel and Netflix have a considerable amount of material to play with; and, if the endgame is a Defenders crossover series, now’s a good time to begin setting up the stakes for our would-be superhero team.

Relationship Evolution

Unless the Luke Cage series is prologue to Jessica Jones, I’m hoping to see a continuing evolution of Luke’s and Jessica’s relationship. Of course this show needs to focus on Luke’s story, but since Jessica will be such an integral part of it in the future, there’s no reason we can’t be treated to more of her character now. Her inclusion could also work as a lead-in to her series’ second season which, like most other viewers I’m sure, I can’t wait to see.

Subtle Inclusion of Real-World Issues

Like Star Trek has done since its conception in the ’60s, Luke Cage’s story has a golden opportunity here to touch upon some of the social issues plaguing the really-real world. I mean, the fact that we have a story about a brown-man with unbreakable skin, debuting at a time when so many real-life minorities are being wrongly gunned down by police, effortlessly avails itself for some clever, true-life integration.

Lastly, and probably most importantly, I want Mike Colter to rock the tiara. At least once. Oooh, yeah….